The Padres could be close to resolving two of their biggest issues.
Two sources said a trade with the Mets, some of the details of which were first reported by The Athletic late Friday night, could happen Saturday morning.
One source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Mets were essentially deciding whether to accept the terms. However, another cautioned there are “a lot of moving parts” and the deal is not assured.
Those terms: The Mets would get Padres right-handers Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagàn, along with first baseman Eric Hosmer and “almost half” of the $59 million the first baseman is owed over the next four seasons; the Padres would receive outfielder and first baseman Dom Smith.
The New York Post first reported Pagàn was a piece in the trade.
At least two of the Padres players involved have been informed by a person familiar with the discussions between the teams that a trade is possible.
The deal would free the Padres of the burden of Hosmer’s contract — giving them financial flexibility and some cushion between their current payroll level and the competitive balance tax threshold — and resolve their need for a left-handed hitter who can play regularly in left field.
That resolution cost them a promising young starting pitcher, one of their top relievers, a clubhouse leader and, reportedly, $25 million.
Moving that portion of Hosmer’s contract would provide more than $8 million in CBT relief in 2022, meaning the Padres will be about $14 million below the $230 million threshold that would require them to pay 30 percent on any overage.
The 26-year-old Smith is coming off a season in which injuries reportedly contributed to a decline in performance. He batted .244/.304/.363, well off his .299/.366/.571 line from 2019 to ’20.
Smith told reporters this spring that in addition to the previously reported groin and wrist injuries, he played through a partially torn right labrum. Smith played in 145 games but said he did not fare as well adjusting to a two-handed follow-through on his swing. The Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. played almost the entire ’21 season with a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder, changing his follow-through similarly and leading the National League with 42 home runs.
Smith said this spring the groin injury contributed to some mechanical hitches in his swing last season and he spent the offseason resting, healing and then building strength in the affected areas.
Smith will make $3.95 million this season and is under team control for two more seasons.
The Padres dealt with capital from a position with depth, though doing so certainly carries risk.
They have an abundance of starting pitchers, a standing enhanced by the spring performance of top pitching prospect MacKenzie Gore. And among those the Padres considered expendable, Paddack carried the most immediate value for the Mets, who on Friday learned they will be without Jacob deGrom for at least the first month of the season with a scapula injury. The Mets are also monitoring Max Scherzer’s hamstring injury.
Paddack has been inconsistent over the past two seasons, posting a 4.95 ERA and 1.25 WHIP and 157 strikeouts in 167 1/3 innings. But he has had a strong spring and has just 60 major league starts. His rookie season in 2019 saw him post a 3.33 ERA and 0.98 WHIP while striking out 153 in 140 2/3 innings.
Paddack is due $2.25 million this season, the first in which he was arbitration eligible.
The 30-year-old Pagàn, due $2.3 million in his second season of arbitration eligibility, was also plagued by inconsistency in 2021. He allowed eight home runs in his final 12 games (10 1/3 innings) and finished with 4.83 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 63 1/3 innings. Before that stretch, he had a 3.23 ERA and had stranded all seven runners he had inherited. Pagàn saved 20 games for the Rays in 2019 before the Padres acquired him in a trade for Manuel Margot in February 2019.
Hosmer, 32, signed with the Padres on the first day of spring training in 2018. His eight-year, $144 million contract was the largest in team history, and the acquisition of a widely respected World Series champion — whose team beat the Mets in 2015 — was seen as accelerating the team’s building process.
Hosmer has fulfilled his role as a mentor to the cadre of young players who have joined the Padres since, but his performance on the field left the Padres displeased with the 11-year veteran.
His .264/.323/.415 line in four seasons with the Padres is well off his .284/.342/.439 in his first seven seasons spent with the Royals.
There was hope a strong 2020, when COVID shortened the season to 60 games and Hosmer hit .287/.333/.517 in 156 plate appearance, that he would be a bigger contributor going forward. But he hit .269/.337/.395 in ’21. The team’s personnel department has also soured on the four-time Gold Glove winner’s defense and believes they are better served with any one of the three other options they have there.
The Padres last month traded with the Yankees for Luke Voit, who they plan to be their primary designated hitter but also work at first base. Second baseman Jake Cronenworth has filled in more than capably at first base. And Smith has started 103 games at first base.
